-India Together All the increased budgets for education in the country may not amount to much, if the States don't move the money fast enough to the intended uses, which is not happening now. Himanshu Upadhyaya reports.  The Comptroller and Auditor General's recent performance review of elementary education in Tripura has once again brought to our attention prolonged delays in release of funds meant for schools. The performance review, of accounts spanning...

-The Hindu One of the first principles that students of auditing are taught is that auditors are watchdogs and not bloodhounds. The Manmohan Singh government would have us believe, in the wake of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India’s reports first in the 2G case and now in the coal mining issue, that this basic principle is being violated by the incumbent CAG. Why should the CAG comment on the...

-The Indian Express When the Delhi Development Authority had the sole right to build houses in the capital, it was unable to meet the demand from an expanding population. If private builders stepped in to build where the DDA was not doing so, is it a fair calculation to say that the profit they could make was a loss to the government exchequer? The CAG’s estimate of loss to the government...

-The Economic Times The CAG has questioned the eligibility of the Anil Ambani-led Reliance Power to have bid for any of the three ultra mega power projects (UMPPs) and said the company would enjoy undue benefits of Rs 29,033 crore over 20 years by using surplus coal at another plant.  The CAG said that to be eligible to bid for a UMPP, a company should have implemented projects worth Rs 3,000 crore...

A team of auditors from the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India will travel on select trains originating and terminating at Sealdah and Howrah stations to ascertain whether their introduction was at all necessary. Nearly all these trains were introduced by Mamata Banerjee during her tenure as railway minister between 2009 and May 2011. According to sources in the CAG, this exercise is part of a thematic review on 'Introduction of...